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The best StarCraft II pro gamers in the world have converged in Shanghai, China to battle it out in the first-ever Battle.net World Championship (WBC). Blizzard Entertainment has 32 elite players representing 18 nations at the event, which takes place November 17 and 18. The company also made the headlines with a launch date for StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. Chris Sigaty, producer of the game, talks about the expansion and explains how it will usher in more “surprise” moments in eSports in this exclusive interview.

Can you give us an update on StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm?

Heart of the Swarm is coming out March 12, 2013. We’re in the middle of beta and continuing to add new features to the game. We’re really dialing in the balance to get it right. We’re taking the time to make sure balance is there and all the community features are there. We have a bunch of new features coming, along with a lot of stuff that we’ve been talking about.

Can you talk about some of the new features?

We’ve really put in our best effort so that all aspects of game are getting attention. I believe Heart of the Swarm is the best campaign yet. We’ve overhauled the user interface. We’ve added new systems for new players that will come along and take a look because of the Battle.net World Championship. We have a new training mode to wrap around multiplayer. We have a new Versus AI mode that plays at your skill level. It allows you to just select and go. We have a new unranked play experience to play against like-skilled players. We have new updates to the editor through Arcade Patch 1. It’s honestly the best product I’ve worked on for giving something for everyone.

How do you see Heart of the Swarm impacting StarCraft II eSports?

For eSports we’re adding new units that will add new tactics to gameplay. We’re also freshening up things for spectators. We’re doing a lot of subtle things that will help viewers understand what’s going on when they watch. We have an all new custom interface so that tournament organizers can change all the info the way they see fit. It’s completely customizable. Each broadcaster can put players in a particular area and tweak things like they want, similar to soccer where each sports network will have slightly different takes on the broadcast. Now eSports organizers can do all of this in-game, rather than using overlays.

How do you see the new units impacting the viewing of StarCraft II? There are often comparisons to chess, but those pieces never evolve.

I think it’s significant. I love and hate the chess comparison. It does help with the novice understanding of moving pieces around on board, but StarCraft II features three different races with units that have different powers and abilities. StarCraft II offers surprise moments -- you can see players strategically taking resources or areas of the map that their opponent wasn’t expecting. With Heart of the Swarm, there will be even more surprise moments and tactics to play through. It significantly changes the game.

How do you work with pro gamers in expanding StarCraft II?

We have strong relationships with the pro gaming community. Any beta testing we do we work with them and tournament organizers. We’ve added the customized UI and a bunch of tracking and things that can be done by a person who’s broadcasting the game as a result of feedback from pro players and partners. We have a special pro forum that allows them to talk directly to designers. We’re catering to that community to make sure that at the highest level StarCraft II is a great game to watch and play. At the same time, we make sure it’s fun for new users. We start with the pros and then reach out to the larger gaming audience.

What are your thoughts regarding the rivalry that has developed between StarCraft II fans and League of Legends fans?

My feeling is that from the general audience perspective, I love the passion that these fans have forall of the eSports games. It’s great for eSports to have an audience that understands the skill level of pro players and what they can achieve. They use StarCraft II in a way that we never imagined. It’s a true skill to play eSports. That’s hard for people coming from football or baseball to understand and respect. But once you take a look at the amazing things happening on screen, it helps. What we need now is for eSports to get to a level where it gets the proper attention it deserves to call out players that are doing amazing things. Each of us does things in a different way. League of Legends is successful at what they do and we feel good about what we’re doing in the space. We both want to see eSports grow and gain more advertisers and see sustainability for the future. I think some of the Olympic events are pretty ridiculous compared to what these guys are doing in pro gaming.

What role do you see television playing in the growth of eSports given the popularity of live streaming?

I don’t think we have to have television, but I think it would help. When you go to a Barcraft, which is a local bar streaming an eSports event, you get this effect of people watching a baseball game and wondering what this game is on the screen. There’s a viral aspect that’s important and TV gives you that. It would be helpful. The other side is to work on ways to bring it down to layman’s terms. There’s a lot of elitism in eSports. It’s like I discovered the new band first. There’s still a force where some people want eSports to feel like it’s their thing. The best way to break out is continuing to make people want to share eSports and make the game easier to describe when it’s on Barcraft or if it was on TV and you find it by flipping through the channels. If we can spend some time getting on TV, it would help.

Where do you see eSports five years from now?

We’ve seen our StarCraft II audience grow massively. We have larger audiences in North America and the EU now than in Korea, which is the homeland of the entire eSports phenomenon. Assuming we get eSports onto other media formats, specifically TV, and raise its awareness, I can see it growing exponentially. I can see shows being made about eSports like you see with UFC. The release of Heart of the Swarm is another marker in helping that growth, along with efforts from other companies and their eSports games.

What’s the biggest challenge to mainstream acceptance of eSports?

We see this every year at BlizzCon. There are a bunch of people there for World of Warcraft and they don’t have much awareness of eSports. These StarCraft II pro games go on the big screen and we get massive audiences beyond what we can seat because of the excitement level that’s there. The biggest challenge is to convince people that eSports is real, and that the skill level is real. We need to equal the amount of excitement here to soccer or football or other sports. There’s a significant opportunity to convert more people.